Week 27: The Bridge and the Handoff - Part One

About an hour before noon I showed up at the north end of the bridge just behind the tree line.  I scoped out the scene with some binoculars and prepared myself for what was to come.

The bridge was about 2 miles in length and pretty tall.  Otherwise it was basic; two lanes southbound and two lanes northbound, either side was lined with light poles every 100 or so feet.  In the middle a raised section allowed boats to pass underneath. 

In the center of  the bridge one light pole on the northbound side stood out among the rest.  It stood out because Brenda  had been strung up on it like a sack of potatoes.  Below her hundreds of zombies swarmed desperate for the meat that had been suspended just out of reach.

About that time Mike came crackling over the walkie.  “I see you decided to show up early, Mr. Taylor.  Well I expected as much.  In fact I expected you even earlier than this.  Where’s your initiative?  Poor girl has been out there for at least a couple of hours now.”

I expected nothing less from the chaperone.  I had prepared for the worst and that is what I got.  Long narrow bridge full of zombies with no way to go except forward, backward or over the edge. 

Luckily I had learned that when zombies catch on fire they have a tendency to scatter.  So I had taken some of the propane tanks from the hangar, a lot of tubing and a modified leaf blower to mount a pretty impressive flame thrower to the front of the Dead Dozer.

It was slow going, but at a steady pace I advanced toward Brenda’s position.  Flaming zombies parted like water for Moses, waves of them toppling over the edges and into the sea below.  There were a few hectic moments when a scorching meat puppet would get caught up between my plow and bumper, but I had removed the front windshield and had a nice long shovel ready to dislodge the stubborn ones before they could do any permanent damage.

The whole process took about 45 minutes.  I must have heard Mike come squawking over the radio 4 or 5 times throughout it.  “you really think that is going to work, Mr. Taylor?”  “That has to be the stupidest idea I have ever seen.”  “Come on, you going to take all day?”  “Now that just ain’t fair.”  First confident and cocky, then annoyed and finally outright angry that my plan was working.  His last message was simply “Alright let’s make this interesting”.

That was at about the time I was approaching Brenda’s position.  I stopped the van when it arrived underneath Brenda and I took out my binoculars to check on Mike.  He had started up his big rig and was making his way onto the bridge.  By the rate he was gaining speed I could tell he intended to ram me.  This was also a move I had anticipated. 

I quickly got onto the roof of the van through my makeshift hatch.  From there I could easily reach Brenda.  She was conscious but just barely.  Somehow she had just enough energy to smile at me and say, “See, I knew everything would be alright.”

I cut her down and managed to get here back into the van.  At that point, Mike and his semi were about halfway to us and plowing through the zombies like a rocket.  There was no way we would be able to turn the Dead Dozer around in time… which was fine by me.

While I had been waiting for Mike’s instructions, I had a lot of time to think about what he might have in store for me.  Ramming me off a narrow bridge with his truck was on the top of that list.  So I managed to find another scooter, actually a real motorcycle, to store in the back of the van.  I opened the back door, got myself and Brenda situated on it, and took off.  That left nothing but an empty van in Mike’s path.

Well, actually the van wasn’t empty at all.  I had several spare propane tanks in there for my flame thrower.  Not to mention two barrels of gas that I had been storing for travelling reserves.  Oh and the day before I had raided a fireworks stand and packed every nook and cranny with recreational explosives. 

If my dates are right I think it must have been around the 4th of July after all.

As we made our way north on the bridge I paused just long enough to pull out a flare gun I was saving and shoot a nice fiery ball into the back of the van.  Just for good measure.

I took off again, trying to put as much distance between myself and the Dead Dozer as possible.  I heard Mike slam into the van but I didn’t dare turn back to see what was happening.  There were still a few zombies left on the bridge and I had to concentrate on avoiding them.  I heard scraping metal as my van was pushed along by Mike.  Mixed in I heard the pops and whistles of fireworks going off.  Then BOOM!!!

After that all I heard was Brenda cheering and laughing.


The Charlie Daniels Band - The Ballad of Thunder Road


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